3. Amnesia: The Dark Descent - Why Daniel Erased His Own Memory
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is one of the greatest survival horror games of all time, and unlike many others, which have to rely on excess amounts of gore or bloodcurdling screams, it focused entirely on atmosphere and xenophobia to create an experience that was unlike anything (except maybe Slender: The Eight Pages). The story is about Daniel, a young man who wakes up in a mansion with no memory of why he's there. He immediately finds a note written by himself telling that he has deliberately erased his own memory and needs to kill the Baron of the mansion whilst avoiding the stalking of an entity known as the Shadow. It was brilliant because it put Daniel exactly into the player's shoes of not knowing what was going on here, creating an empathetic link between the two only further enhanced by the addition of a sanity meter similar to the one in Eternal Darkness. Of course, out of all the mysteries plaguing the player (who was this Baron, why is there a Shadow following me, what are all these monsters roaming the manor?), the biggest one was why Daniel had chosen to induce self-amnesia. While theories were subconsciously produced from the beginning, various notes found via exploration ended up divulging the disappointing truth. To not completely spoil the game for those who still want to experience it, Daniel had helped the Baron torture several prisoners as he was told that would help in getting rid of the Shadow. When the Baron revealed that this was all a ruse to help go back to his world (as he was really an alien), he betrayed Daniel and left him to die. Daniel drank an amnesia potion in order to get rid of the emotional baggage created by the suffering he'd inflicted on the captives. It was disappointing because it didn't make sense. So Daniel thought that rather than channel the rage over being tricked into doing these horrible acts to exact revenge on the Baron, he decided that it would be better to make himself try and kill the Baron with no knowledge of the mansion's schematics or the Baron's power? Yes, the trauma was painful, but to think that it would easier to fight a battle without knowing anything about the fight was idiotic in an otherwise perfect game.
Red Stewart is big fan of the entertainment industry, with insights into film, television, and video games for starters. Despite growing up in the 21st century's era of modernization, he prefers many retro era ideas over the current trends found in many of today's media. Personally he's an introvert who loves reading as much as gaming.
